Two different congregations in the Sautee-Nacoochee Valley birthed in the same church building

Crescent Hill Baptist Church and Nacoochee Presbyterian Church are a bit like bookends, each anchoring one end of the Sautee-Nacoochee Valley in northern White County.

The churches are quite different, with Crescent Hill holding to traditional theological roots and Nacoochee adopting a more progressive theology, but the two have a history that is intertwined. Both churches were founded in the same white gingerbread Gothic building that sits about a quarter mile from the intersection of Highway 17 and Highway 75 on a crescent-shaped hill overlooking the Sautee-Nacoochee Valley. Both have small, close-knit congregations that minister to those within their flocks as well as the outside community. Both are proud of the people of faith who came before them to lay a spiritual foundation for today's congregants. And both - in a time where locked and bolted doors are the norm - refuse to latch the doors of their historic sanctuaries, choosing instead to leave the doors open for those who need a quiet place of refuge.
 

Two churches originated in one building

The Gothic-style church with the green shutters has been the meeting place of Crescent Hill Baptist Church since 1921, but the building originally was home to Nacoochee Presbyterian Church, constructed as part of an estate established by James H. Nichols, fondly known in the Valley as Captain Nichols. Nichols moved to the Nacoochee Valley from Milledgeville and built a grand estate featuring an Italianate-style home (called West End) along with a smokehouse and other amenities. The iconic gazebo on the Sautee Indian Mound was also built on the property. However, Nichols, a staunch Presbyterian, found no Presbyterian church in the community. Not one to be easily deterred, Nichols set out to establish a Presbyterian congregation in 1870. Two years later, the building was complete and Nichols, his wife and daughter - along with his mother-in-law - and the servants who lived at West End, had a church home.

In 1893, Nichols sold his estate to Atlanta businessman Calvin Hunnicutt. Nacoochee Presbyterian remained in the hands of the church trustees, however, and just a few years later - in 1898 - membership in the church had dwindled to a point where the Athens Presbytery dissolved Nacoochee Presbyterian Church. The little white church building sat vacant even after Nacoochee Presbyterian was reorganized in 1901. At that point, the Presbyterians opted to worship at The Nacoochee Institute just a bit further up the valley. When that building was destroyed by fire in 1926, the congregation moved to its current location on Georgia Highway 255, meeting first in a renovated dairy barn and then in a brand new church building - the current building - in 1927. 

The church trustees held the deed to the little white church building and the church property until 1920 when they returned it to Anna Ruby Payne, Captain Nichols' daughter. One year later, Mrs. Payne sold the building and three acres of property to Dr. Lamartine G. Hardman, the Commerce physician - and future Georgia governor - who had acquired the Nichols estate from Hunnicutt. Hardman, a devout Baptist, and other Baptists in the Valley, organized Crescent Hill Baptist Church, holding their first service on Sunday, Oct. 30, 1921 at 11 a.m. 

To this date, the congregation of Crescent Hill Baptist Church has called the little white church its home. 
 

Congregations treasure the history of their church buildings, but also their people

If anyone knows the history of Crescent Hill Church, it's Garrison Baker. The retired White County Probate Judge is a member of the Baptist church; in fact, his great-grandmother and grandmother were charter members and every following generation of the family has worshiped at Crescent Hill. Baker loves to tell the stories of his church, and not just the history of the Baptist congregation. He wrote a book in 1997 (A History of Crescent Hill Church), diving deep into the history of the Sautee-Nacoochee Valley and Nacoochee Presbyterian, as well as Crescent Hill Baptist. 

Baker can talk about every nuance of the church structure - the gingerbread/carpenter Gothic construction of the building, the diamond-shaped stained glass in the windows, the Baroque pulpit at the front of the sanctuary, the addition of indoor bathrooms and central heating and air in the 1980s - but he seems to grow especially nostalgic when he discusses the people who formed the foundation of Crescent Hill Baptist.

"We had two world-famous preachers from this area - Ferdinand McConnell and George Truett - who were cousins from up in the mountains in Hiawassee," Baker said, noting that McConnell preached the ordination service to establish Crescent Hill Baptist. Baker said both used to preach when Gov. Hardman was in attendance. 

"Some of the stories people would tell was that when McConnell or Truett would be preaching, the church would be full so they would raise the windows and people would pull their wagons up to the windows so that everybody could hear...the yard outside would be full," Baker said.

The two preachers, of course, were instrumental in establishing what is now Truett-McConnell University in nearby Cleveland. 

Members of Nacoochee Presbyterian Church feel the same connection with their church building and with their congregational predecessors.

Jerry White, a former Baptist and a graduate of Truett-McConnell, said he joined Nacoochee Presbyterian in 2010 and he treasures the history in the building - everything from the hand-hewn pews crafted by eight men in the church to the hand-carved wooden crosses that grace the tops of each window in the sanctuary to the wrought iron front gate crafted from old buggy wheel rims by two local blacksmiths.

More than the physical features of the building, though, White said he is most drawn to the people of Nacoochee Presbyterian Church.

"What keeps us here are the people and the fact that we accept anyone here," White said. "We care about all people and our doors are open...we are an open congregation."

Member Elizabeth Crittenden agreed, saying the sense of history rests more with the people than with the "things" of the church. Her family arrived in the Valley in 1832, pre-dating the church. But she remembers growing up with the church - and its members - as a constant presence in her life

"I can feel their presence when I'm here," Crittenden said. "They're still part of who we are."

The doors of Crescent Hill and Nacoochee are always open 

In a day and time where people are cautious and keep their homes and businesses under lock and key, both Crescent Hill Baptist and Nacoochee Presbyterian choose to do the opposite. While both churches lock their church offices, both have decided to always keep the doors to their sanctuaries open. 

Rev. Bob Prim said he understands that some people consider the unlocked door policy as risky, especially since the church has embraced some social issues - such as same-sex marriage - that some neighbors in the Valley might disagree with. Still, he said the unlocked doors send a message to the community about who the Nacoochee congregation is.

"It's a symbol for us that really resonates with the heart of who we are, I think," Prim said. 

Jerry White agreed.

"For me, it's an attempt to set an example for the rest of the world," White said. "A long time ago churches were open for people to come in all hours of the day and night when it was needed...it reflects the love of God and our purpose here."

Prim said in the almost 24 years he has pastored the church, the doors of the sanctuary have only been locked a couple of times; the first time, he couldn't even find the key.

"As I said, we've been a church that is opening and welcoming of gay and lesbian people," Prim said. "We hosted a meeting of our Presbytery..and we received a traveling display of stoles of gay and lesbian people who had been denied service in the church. It was a national display that went around and we had it when we were hosting that meeting and so we hung it in our sanctuary. That was the first time I remember locking the church door because we didn't own that."

On the other end of the valley, Crescent Hill Baptist Church keeps the doors of its sanctuary unlocked, as well. Even the theft of a treasured pulpit Bible in 1972 did not persuade the congregation to change its tradition of keeping the sanctuary open for those who wanted to visit outside of regular church hours.

Garrison Baker shared the story of the stolen Bible with AccessWDUN in a 2019 story on the Sautee-Nacoochee community. 

"The pulpit Bible was given to us when the church was organized as a Baptist church and it's been on display here since 1928," Baker said at the time. The congregation had given up hope of ever finding the Bible, but 17 years after it disappeared, it turned up during the demolition of a residence in Hall County. 

"They were doing some new construction and they went in to see if there was anything left in the home and they looked up in a closet and there sat that Bible," Baker said. 

The Bible was returned to its rightful place on the pulpit and remains there for any visitors to see.
 

Visiting Crescent Hill Baptist and Nacoochee Presbyterian today 

Just as other churches have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, so have the congregations of Crescent Hill Baptist and Nacoochee Presbyterian.

Crescent Hill canceled church for two weeks at the onset of the pandemic, conducted online services for six weeks, held some services outdoors and returned to indoor worship by June 2020 . Because the congregation is small and most members are from family units, the issue of social distancing has not been a problem.

Nacoochee Presbyterian continues to hold virtual meetings through the month of April. The church - along with other Presbyterian churches in the region - takes direction from the North Georgia Presbytery. Prim said he is hoping to begin in-person worship services in May.